U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a speech at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum on the 16th. In answering a question about Internet openness, Obama said that the freer the flow of information, the stronger society becomes, because that way citizens around the world can hold their governments accountable.
[Obama] Well, I’d now like to call on my ambassador, Huntsman. A netizen has submitted a question through our embassy website.
[Jon Huntsman] First, in a country with so many Internet users, with 60 million bloggers, do you know about the firewall? Second, should we be free to use TWITTER?
[Obama] First, let me say that I have never used TWITTER. I notice that some young people are always busy with all kinds of electronic devices—very bulky. But I still very much believe in the role of technology and attach great importance to openness. When it comes to the flow of information, I believe the freer the flow of information, the stronger society becomes, because that way citizens around the world can hold their governments accountable, there is accountability, they think for themselves, and that produces new ideas and encourages creativity. So I have always been a firm supporter of open use of the Internet. I strongly support not censoring content. I have talked about this before in the United States; it is one of our traditions. I also recognize that different countries have different traditions, but I can tell you that in the United States, we have unrestricted access to the Internet. This is a source of our strength, and it should be encouraged.
But I should also be very honest with you: as President of the United States, sometimes I still wish information did not flow so freely, because then I wouldn’t have to hear people criticizing me. I think that is very natural.
When someone is in a position of power, they think, Why are you saying this about me? It is very irresponsible of you to say that. But the reality is this: because information is free in the United States, because many people in the United States criticize me for all sorts of things, I still believe that this is what makes our nation’s system stronger and makes me a better leader, because it forces me to hear opinions I do not want to hear, and it forces me to examine what I am doing, every day, to see whether I am truly doing the best I can for the American people. So I believe the Internet has now become an even more powerful tool that allows citizens to participate.
In fact, one of the reasons I won this election and became president is that we were able to mobilize many young people through the Internet. At the beginning, no one thought I would win, because we did not have the wealthiest supporters or the most politically powerful people supporting us. But people saw our campaign through the Internet, they got excited, and they organized campaign activities, events, and rallies. The result was a bottom-up movement that made us very successful.
This is true not only in government and politics, but in the business world as well. Take a company like Google: less than 20 years ago, it was just two people about your age starting a company. It began as a scientific experiment, and then, because of the Internet, they were able to create an industry—one that revolutionized business all over the world.
So if it weren’t for the very free openness—like the openness the Internet provides—Google would not exist. That is why I strongly support the approach of not restricting Internet use, access, or information technologies like TWITTER. The more open it is, the more it enables communication and connects the whole world. Take my two daughters, Malia and Natasha—one is 11 and the other is 8. They can get online in their rooms, and through the Internet they can reach anywhere in the world and learn whatever they want. This is a tremendous power for them; their having this power also helps promote mutual understanding.
As I said just now, technology also has a downside: terrorists can use the Internet to do things they could not do before, and some extremists can also mobilize. Of course, openness definitely comes at a certain cost; that cannot be denied. But I think the good far outweighs the bad, so it is still better to remain open. I am very glad that the Internet is also part of this forum. Two final questions.